[Crossface]

2002 SD! - Rey Mysterio vs Chris Benoit

This is just one of the many classics Smackdown produced back in 2002 and I've gotta say, it blows most TV matches we've seen in the last couple of years away. It's probably nearly as good as HBK/Shelton from 2005 for me. First of all, the pacing and timing is fucking incredible. Explosive, entertaining, fun to watch and magnificently executed. Rey was in his absolute prime (for his WWE career anyway) here and he was noticably a better performer back then compared to now IMO. These days a lot of cruiserweights high flying movesets feel predictable, a little cliche and sometimes underwhelming. This is not the case here, as we see all sorts of explosive counters and awesome moves that come completely unexpected at a million miles an hour, which is just breathtaking to watch.

Not only is it a high energy match with entertaining moves, but there's also a lot of countering and psychology by both men to stop it being just another spotfest and more of an all round contest. Benoit was just a superb heel wrestler - he puts all heels these days to shame in regards to effectively wearing down opponents, using brutal offense to gain the momentum and the execution as always is top knotch. It never gets boring, whereas on a lot of TV matches these days it comes off as sluggish and forced when the heel is in control.

I'm not going to lower the rating because of the relatively short amount of time compared to other classics (11 mins) because it felt like they packed a 15-20 minute match into that time limit because of their unbelievable ability and enough time was allowed for them to develop the story and make it feel like a complete contest. Just imagine though if these two were allowed to go all out in the main event of a PPV in their primes for 20 minutes...with the chemistry they had they could of pulled off something as good as Eddie/Rey HH or Angle/Benoit RR but this is still a mouth watering match that shows off two of the very best going all out and delivering wrestling perfection.

****

[Edgehead9812]

Good Review Crippler, If benoit were still alive WWE could have made a Smackdown Six dvd.

[Word]

Watched the Flair Disc 1 DVD last night. Although havent watching the first DVD they brought out, I wasn't all that impressed. Some chapters were over-done and other weren't talked about enough. The Horsemen chapter is basically a repeat of the DVD that came out. I will probably do a full review later but I wasn't so high on it.

[BrownieDude]

Cena/Lashley and Cena/Orton were probably on par, going to have to rewatch.

Cena/Lashley is also arguable better than MITB II.

MITB I: ****1/4
MITB II: ***3/4
MITB III: ***3/4
MITB IV: ****1/4

III was sligtly better than II, neither warranted **** though to be honest.

Need to watch Cena/Orton at Summerslam. I gave it ****, but I have only seen it once since Summerslam and that was after seeing their NWO match which was only ***.

[Andy3000]

Good stuff again, Crippler! I had that match around the same level the last time I saw it, but I haven't been able to find it for download again since. I do have the 2/3 falls No Mercy rematch on my computer which I'll hopefully get to watching sometime soon.

[Yon]

Random match ratings:

The Undertaker vs. The Dudleyz (GAB 2004) - ***
The Undertaker vs. The Big Show Punjabi Prison match (GAB 2006) - ***

[Word]

New release tbh.

[craigdanbeaton]

Originally Posted by Word

New release tbh.

ooh... Now that does look good...

NOW I CAN OWN KENNEL FROM HELL ON DVD!!! OH JOY!!! [/Sarcasm]


But seriously.. the Fully Loaded main event is good.. although it is on Tombstone.. and the Six Pack Challenge at Unforgiven is.. alright

Thanks to torrents I am now downloading a "Best of the Undertaker in 97 pack".. so I'll review some of that tonight..


I'm also getting the Capital Carnage 98 main event, Kane Vs Mankind Vs Undertaker Vs Austin, What's everyone's rating for it?

[Edgehead9812]

Matches to watch! Bossman/Taker HIAC.

KFH.

[bigcal]

Originally Posted by craigdanbeaton

ooh... Now that does look good...

NOW I CAN OWN KENNEL FROM HELL ON DVD!!! OH JOY!!! [/Sarcasm]


But seriously.. the Fully Loaded main event is good.. although it is on Tombstone.. and the Six Pack Challenge at Unforgiven is.. alright

Thanks to torrents I am now downloading a "Best of the Undertaker in 97 pack".. so I'll review some of that tonight..


I'm also getting the Capital Carnage 98 main event, Kane Vs Mankind Vs Undertaker Vs Austin, What's everyone's rating for it?

The CC98 Main Event is pretty entertaining from what I remember. I got it on VHS in a double pack with something else (can't remember what lol). Its been years since I saw ti though, so I can't rate it. Over *** though, and probably not over ****.

Nice choice with the 97 Undertaker pack. One of his best years for match quality!